Songs that Flow from The Heart
by BittersweetBlasphemy
Summary: a collection of song fics from eight different beating hearts. Hopefully better then that sounds. JessexJaden, JackxYusei, HaouxJehu(Johan) and some CrowxOC and YuseixJesse


Songs that flow from the Heart

A collection of song fics, told from the prospective of eight different beating hearts, strung together with a crimson ribbon, and bonded by the shared darkness deep inside.

Chapter One: Always Perfect

Beyond the calm mask he'd erected, Yusei Fudo could feel himself falling to pieces. He never thought he'd be here again, and for the same reason that almost destroyed him the first time. He blinked back tears from his eyes, dull in the fluorescence of the hospital lights. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the tiny, battered figure tucked between the glaring polyester sheets.

He was snow white, his lips a pale cyan. The contrast of his thick black lashes against his colourless cheeks startled the raven haired teen with its violence, similar to the purplish bruises littering the small boy's body.

Yusei choked on a sob. This was his fault, why did he allow Jesse to storm off when he should have been keeping an eye on him? Why did he start that stupid argument, by insisting Jesse needed a bodyguard when he went out.

Why couldn't it have been him instead?

**I think about you every single day, and every time I see your face, I wake, and it bring**_**s m**__**e to tears.**_

"Yusei," Jesse shouted, over the cheering and bawling of the Christmas festivities. Anger was clearly displayed on his heart shaped face, and it soured his southern accent, "You have to understand that I can look after myself. I don't need you, Jaden or Jack following me around all the damn time. So why don't you do me a favour, and get lost."

His words stunned Yusei. Jesse had never blown up at him like that before. Maybe that's why he allowed him to walk off, silent and fuming. Honestly, he had no idea how this fight had even broken out.

Bitter, and hurt, Yusei blurted out, "Fine, Jesse, go and get yourself killed, raped, maimed, beaten and kidnapped, but don't expect me to care when the police are at our doorstep because you've been found dead in a ditch." He screamed the last part at the top of his lungs, "Do you hear me, Jesse, I won't care."

And Jesse was gone. Yusei's misty words evaporating into the air, the weight of them hitting him like bricks.

_**We haven't spoken in years**_

Why the fuck had he said something so horrible? On his knees next to Jesse's bed, he buried his face in the bedding, grasping it with both hands tightly. The only sounds in the room were the whirl of the machines keeping Jesse alive, and the consistent beep of his heart monitor. He cried into the sheets and blanket, wishing Jaden would drag him by the hair out of his boyfriend's room and kick the living daylights out of him.

Because he didn't deserve to be here, wailing at Jesse's side. All he deserved was a shallow grave in a ditch far away from his family. But none of them, not even Jaden, blamed them for Jesse's plight. They all knew how headstrong the young man could be at times, and because he'd attacked Yusei in such a viscous manner, Yusei had bitten back. He'd been hurt, driven to near exhaustion at the time.

But it was his fault, and Yusei knew it.

_**We were close, we were young and naïve.**_

Guilt and regret settled deep into his core, and he stared blindly in the direction Jesse had disappeared in. What had he done? What had he said? He needed to find Jesse before he got hurt.

"Jesse, Jesse, please come back. I'm sorry," He cried, pushing and shoving his way through crowds too slow to move. They pushed and shoved him back. Several times he caught site of Jesse's retreating back, and several times the surging gang of limps and angry Christmas shoppers kept him from reaching him in time.

So he lost him.

He was panicked to say the least. Night was when Domino became hostile, and somebody as slight and fragile as Jesse was easy pickings for one of the street gangs looming in bus shelters. Sure, Jesse was tough; he knew how to throw a punch if it would save his life, the question was would he be able to get away in time if there was more than one.

_**We grew up and we learned other things,**_

In the end, Yusei was restrained by a furious chav, with his hood up, and cap pulled down low enough to shadow his eyes, who he'd accidentally jostled in his haste to get to Jesse, "What's ur problem, freak?" He demanded, throwing his arms wide like he wanted Yusei to start a fight. Two of his friends close by nudged each other and flanked him, sniggering.

Gritting his teeth, fists clenched, Yusei braced himself to barrel past all three. If he had too, he would smash his spiky wrist cuffs into their temples. He didn't care if he ended up back in the facility.

He needed to get to Jesse.

The first chav pushed Yusei in the chest, and he staggered back, "Come on freak, give us a laugh."

"Yeah, screamo,"

The first one's remark was met with a ferocious kick to the face, "In case you haven't noticed," Yusei grunted, as he flipped the second one over his shoulders. The Chav's back hit the ground with a sickening crack, "I'm in a hurry."

The last one didn't even try to hinder him as he stormed past. He upped his pace, leaving them howling in the snow, in agony.

It didn't matter to him, there was only one important thing on his mind, and it consumed him. He needed to find him.

Than he felt it, that sharp shooting pain seizing hold of his heart and constricting. He staggered, gasping for breaths. Jesse, he thought in desperation, Jesse, is this you?

_**You'll always be sweet sixteen**_

A hand touched Yusei's shoulder, and when he glanced up, he saw it was Jaden. The chocolate eyed boy frowned when he saw h**is **friend's tear stained face, "Maybe you should rest, you haven't fully recovered either." He urged gently, his face a mx of concern and fear. That night, Yusei had been stabbed and he was scared that the strain Yusei was putting on himself would cause the wound to reopen.

He hadn't believed his ears when one of the nurses had tearfully told him that Yusei had stumbled in, weak from loss of blood, his jeans a torn and blood soaked mess, some of it was his, most of it wasn't. He was cradling Jesse in his arms like a broken rag doll. As soon as the doctors took Jesse from him, he'd collapsed

Yusei had walked miles with a stab wound deep in his leg, carrying Jesse all the time, to the hospital. The doctors later explained to him when he woke up, that seemed to have experienced an adrenaline rush similar to blood wrath in animals when Jesse was in danger, and he'd been able to keep fighting, even after he'd been stabbed.

That's how he'd made it three miles in falling snow, while he must have lost at least two pints of blood, because Jesse needed medical attention, and fast, but the ambulance wouldn't have been able to make it out so far because of the impending blizzard.

So what the doctor was trying to say is that Yusei had gone into a berserk animalistic rage.

He was lucky he wasn't dead.

_**And you'll always be perfect,**_

He stroked Jesse's cheek with the back of his hand. The hospital had taken away his biker gloves for the time being, so the stark difference between the coolness of Jesse's skin and the warmth of Yusei's touch shocked him.

"I can't leave him," He said feebly, "I need to stay right here for when he wakes up."

"Besides, every time I close my eyes, I see their ugly faces as they tried to kill us both,"

Jaden nodded, though he didn't agree. In his mind, Yusei needed rest. This brooding, this nasty self-haired he had at the moment wasn't good for him at the moment.

But he decided to back off a bit, "You know what's strange?" He said softly, kneeling down next to him on the icy tiled floor, "Jack hasn't stopped crying since we heard the new, Jayne is so mad she's had to go down to the gym with Judai to get it out of her system. It's okay, we told her to go, she wasn't going to be any good to anyone in the state she was in. Probably would have ended up punching an orderly."

_**You'll always be beautiful,**_

Yusei remained unchanged. Jaden hated seeing his cousin in so much pain, with nothing he could do. The last time Jesse had been in a situation like this, Yusei had almost torn himself to pieces. It had been Jack that had slapped Yusei round the face, and offered him a shoulder to cry on. He'd kept the crumbling boy together in the past.

Yusei's heart crushing love for Jesse was killing him, but maybe Jack's never ending love for him could hold him together.

The raven haired teen never heard his older cousin leave, he never heard Jack walk in minutes later. He only realized the blond male was there when a pair of strong arms wrapped around his should, pulling his back against his chest.

Jack was angry, and upset, and vulnerable all at once, and the weight of the emotions he never showed would have usually been enough to knock Yusei clean off his feet. But he was numb. What's more, he didn't want to feel them envelop him.

The only thing he wanted more than anything in the world is for Jesse to open his glittering emerald eyes. And if that didn't happen then Yusei didn't want to continue living. He'd been too scared to admit it in the past, but Jesse was the one thing in this world that he loved and treasured the most. In those scary hours, if there was anything Yusei would have done to make him better again, you could bet you're heavy metal collection that Yusei would have done it.

Even if it meant he had to kill someone. Like he said, he didn't care if he was shipped back to the facility.

He didn't care, as long as Jesse was well.

_**Our hearts will never forget you,**_

As a child, Jack remembered watching an old Batman movie in Martha's tatty living room. Back then, he couldn't relate with the villain, Mr Freeze, who stole Robin's girlfriend to use her as a blood and organ donor for his sick wife.

Now he understood all too well, it was that undying love that drove somebody to do anything so that the love they adored could live on happy and well. It was quite tragic in a way, valuing somebody else's existence more than anything else in the world.

He saw that spark in Yusei's eyes when he looked at Jesse. It was that same sweet, if slightly half crazed glint that the others failed to see. It told Jack that Yusei would do anything for the blue haired boy, and if anything was to ever happen to him like this again, Yusei wouldn't bounce back. He'd go insane.

_**You didn't belong here,**_

Jack hoped that Jesse pulled through, if not for them, then for Yusei. He needed him, far more then he'd even let anyone know. Only Jack already knew, he'd known right from the start.

Yusei never told him what really happened that night. He couldn't, some details stayed fresh in his mind, like the callous smirks of the drunken louts as they kicked them both halfway to Hell, others were so fuzzy he didn't even know how they managed to get away from them. Nobody helped.

"Yusei, it is okay to fall apart. I'll always be here to piece you back together again, even if I have to go to hell and back to do it."

That was the final straw, and Jack could have sworn his heart stopped as he watched Yusei split at the seams, "I love him, I love him so much, and yet I allowed those bastards to do this to him. I was the one that told him I wouldn't care, and he ended up getting kicked halfway to Hell." Yusei screamed, beating his fists against Jack's chest again and again. He'd lost it, finally, the cool and composed Yusei Fudo had finally snapped.

"It should have been me, but Jesse got in the way, and they went back for him." Punch after punch after punch, he ground out between his teeth, "IT. SHOULD. HAVE. BEEN. ME!"

Jack caught him in his arms, holding his struggling to his chest, "Calm down, or I'll have the nurse come in and sedate you. You're hysterical."

_**And it's become so clear, why Heaven called your name.**_

Cradling him like a child in his arms, he gentle soothed him by saying, "Do you think this is how Jesse wants you to act. What if Jesse woke up now and saw you like this, it would kill him. When he wakes up he's gonna want to see you alive and well, the man he's always loved. You'll be the first person he'll want when he awakes,I know it."

Yusei shuddered, suddenly, scarily calm, a total opposite from the busted man he'd been only moments ago, "But how do we stop something like this from happening again?"

Jack cleared his throat, "Have you ever heard the story of Sophie Lancaster?" He asked, looking Yusei straight in the eye. He saw that hopeful glint – the one he always looked for when he felt it was all useless – return.

"No, who is she?"

Jack lacked both his arms around Yusei's waist, holding him close, possessively, like he was about to be snatched away from him. For a six foot five, muscular punk who flipped the rest of the world off, he was a softy when it came to the younger male, "Sophie Lancaster was a twenty year old Goth girl, who, along with her boyfriend, was set upon by a bunch of yobs in a local park near their home. Teenagers, Yusei, they beat them both because of the way they were dressed. Similar to the way you and Jesse were beaten, only this was a truly vicious attack. They aimed to kill, nobody even knew the true reason, but many have though it was triggered because they were different to them, and they hated it. They were teenagers, Yusei, the same age as me, and you, and the rest of the gang, and those drunken louts managed to take the life of a beautiful, kind person. So please don't treat this like an isolated incident, you're both lucky you escaped with your lives."

_**I miss you, and it still feels like I know you**_

Beneath his rib cage, Jack's heart was thrumming. Yusei liked the sound, it reminded him of diving under the covers with Jack when he was little, when a street gang outside the house would be yelling at passers-by and throwing bottles at Martha's door. He became scared several times that they were try to torch the place, but Jack would always cuddle him close, soothing him by saying that if they tried, them they would have to deal with him.

Now, Yusei wasn't sure if a nine year old really had the nerve to take on a whole boozed up street gang armed with guns and knives, but him saying that eased his nerves, and Yusei would fall asleep to the gentle beat of Jack's heart. It was one of the only things that could cool Yusei down when he went off the rails, which, as Jack had only recently learned was rare, but not impossible.

"So what do we do?" Yusei questioned again, and Jack smiled. The old Yusei he'd known and loved was back, and judging by the blue fire raging in his eyes, he was out for blood.

They untangled themselves, stood facing each other with steel determination, "First we need you and Jesse to get better," Jack said, "then we're taking this not only to Central security, but there's a charity in Sophie Lancaster's memory, we're taking it there too, because they need to know this is still happening. And thirdly…"

A thin black eyebrow rose, "Thirdly?"

"I think you should see a counsellor for a little while Yusei, I'm worried what effect this has had on your mental state. You're usually so strong and unwavering, but I've just witnessed you falling apart, totally losing it." jack explained, grasping his boyfriend gently by the shoulders. Yusei nodded slowly, as if taking the idea in.

At last, Yusei replied, "Maybe you're right, I should talk to somebody, Jesse too, when he wakes up."

_**I've got pictures of us side by side to show you**__**.**_

Later that day, Yusei awoke in his bed alone. Strange, he thought, when did I fall asleep? Jack must have moved him. He jumped when the door suddenly clicked, and he stared, wide eyed, as a shadowed figure crept in.

"Yusei, Yusei, are you in here?" a tiny voice chimed, rich with a sweet southern twang, "It's me, Yusei."

Yusei's face broke into a relieved smile. It really was him, "I'm over here, Jesse, how are you?" The energetic blunette jumped onto the bed next to him, settling down on the pillow, already at home.

"I'm fine, the doctor said I had a concussion, a bit of bruising and some internal bleeding, but it's already healed. I'm more worried about you. They told me you got stabbed!" The panic in Jesse's voice almost made tears spring back into Yusei's eyes; so, after everything, Jesse still cared about him, "I'm so sorry," Jesse said thickly, as though he was on the verge of tears, "If hadn't of acted the way I did, and stormed off like that this never would have happened. I should have understood at the time that you didn't think of me as weak, always in need of protecting, you were there to back me up, like you always have been." Jesse's head came down to rest on Yusei's shoulder, and the raven teen nestled his cheek in the younger male's wild mane of cerulean hair. He felt several wet droplets drip onto his shoulder. The floodgates had opened.

_**But it feels like owe you so much more**_

But it didn't matter, whatever had happened, neither of them were to blame. The only people that should be made accountable were the people that had attacked Jesse, for being nothing more than himself. Besides, they were alive, and if this chain of events had never wrapped itself tightly around his neck, then he never would have learned about S.O.P.H.I.E.

"Jesse, don't cry, I don't blame you, and if anyone should be sorry, it should be me. What I said was unforgivable." He held Jesse in his arms like he was the most precious thing in the world. Because, to Yusei, he was, "In truth, I would be lost if anything was to happen to you. If you were taken away from me, I'd lose my mind."

Soft butterfly kisses rained down on Jesse's cheeks and forehead, each one sweeter, softer, then the last, until they were nothing more than the gentle brush of Yusei's lips against his skin. A pleasant tingle erupted where each kiss touched, and on more than one occasion Yusei nearly met his lips, and missed.

Jesse whimpered when the candid show of affection became too much for him, and he hid his face in the crook of Yusei's neck so his lips couldn't reach him anymore. If Yusei was going to kiss him, Jesse wished he would just hurry up and do it, and stop teasing him with the prospect.

_**And you'll always be perfect,**_

_**You'll always be beautiful,**_

_**Our hearts will never forget you,**_

_**You didn't belong here,**_

_**Why heaven called your name, **_

_That night, two wounded souls pieced each other back together,_

_Because even though they were strong, they were still fragile as feathers,_

_Caught in a wind of another's design,_

_They were lucky they hadn't run out of time,_

**Song: Amelia – Tonight Alive. **

**Please Note, if any of the issues raised in this fanfic have hit you personally, then please donate, in Sophie Lancaster's memory, to S.O.P.H.I.E, so together we can stamp out hate and prejudice for all alternate sub-cultures. And if you already support this charity, wear your wrist bands with pride. **


End file.
